Volume One: Youthful Encounters in Subtle Times Chapter 122: I Yearn to Transcend the Path, Part 4

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After those people were sacrificed, they should, according to the sacrificial rites of old, have vanished into nothingness, their very soul imprints dissolving into heaven and earth. Yet through an inconceivable divine art, the Daoist preserved their souls after the sacrifice, allowing them to remain here and hear the entire plan from beginning to end.

It was not that they felt no hatred. In their eyes, they had originally been preparing to journey into the outside world to cultivate, eagerly awaiting that future, only to meet such an end. If they were left in this world consumed by resentment, some among them would inevitably become vengeful spirits.

That would be a hidden danger to the mortal world. Thus, the Daoist had to preserve them and let them understand the entire cause and consequence of what had happened. Only then could the resentment in their hearts be dispelled.

After hearing the whole truth, their hatred truly vanished like smoke in the wind. They bowed deeply to the Daoist, thanking him both for making plans on their behalf and for giving them a chance at freedom.

At that moment, the faint resentment surrounding them dissipated, and the light of their souls was redeemed.

The Daoist knew that once he completed the final step of his plan, they would truly be freed from Heavenly Gate Town.

The Daoist smiled. “I have told you everything you need to know. Now, let us witness together the birth of the Land of the Dao!”

As soon as he finished speaking, a vast and intricate formation emerged above their heads. Once it appeared, it enveloped Heavenly Gate Town and part of the surrounding sea. Every rune within it pulsed with an aura so profound that words could scarcely describe it.

Those present had never before seen such a colossal and complex formation. None of them knew what it was, and a tremendous unease surged through them all.

At that moment, they regretted taking part in the affairs of the Heavenly Gate more than anything. Would it not have been better simply to keep struggling on?

Some of the more timid among them believed that, before the formation was complete, this was their only chance to escape. They poured all their strength into flying beyond its borders. Yet as they fled, that invisible thread of karma followed them relentlessly. No matter how far they flew, they always ended up back beside the Daoist.

Aside from the five Saint Spirits, only Xie Tong, Cao Xihe, and a few others were not tightly bound by the threads of karma. As the five Saint Spirits sensed the formation, the shock and wariness in their hearts grew ever stronger. This was no mortal formation. In other words, the technique used to establish it was to take Dao energy as ink and the Dao foundation as a brush, creating an innate formation of the Dao’s origin.

No wonder the Daoist had released his Primordial Dao moments earlier. He had done so to fill the surroundings with his Dao energy, then use his Dao foundation as the brush with which to sketch this intricate and complicated formation. Moreover, judging from the runes above, these were no ordinary mortal runes either. They were runes embodying the Primordial Dao of the five Great Daos.

The Old Daoist asked White Spirit anxiously, “Do you know how to break this formation?”

White Spirit seemed to feel something stir within her. She countered, “Do we truly need to break it?”

The Old Daoist failed to understand at first, but the Teacher reacted before he did.

“Do you mean that the Heavenly Gate has now been destroyed by the Daoist’s power over time, and therefore Heavenly Gate Town has lost the meaning of its existence? If so, why should we not release the people of Heavenly Gate Town? Besides, since we cannot accomplish it ourselves and someone else can, why should we obstruct him?”

White Spirit did not answer directly, but her silence spoke clearly enough: yes.

After hearing this, the Sword Saint pondered for a moment before saying, “Although the Heavenly Gate has been destroyed, the secrets hidden within Heavenly Gate Town are not limited to the gate itself. Nor was turning the Heavenly Gate into a Land Without the Dao solely the work of the five of us Saints. None of us can say what consequences will follow if Heavenly Gate Town becomes a Land of the Dao.”

The Old Monk’s thoughts were simpler still.

“We do not know what purpose those ancient Saints had in deciding to turn Heavenly Gate Town into a Land Without the Dao. But from the day Heavenly Gate Town came into existence, the people within it were bound to their fate. That is something no one can change. Now someone wishes to overturn the verdict of the past. I do not agree, and I imagine they would not agree either.”

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The Old Daoist glanced at the ancient ancestors. Seeing them scurrying about like ants on a hot griddle, he finally said, “Very well. We cannot alter or criticize what happened in the past, but these people must not die here. The affairs of the mortal world may still require their aid in the future. The Daoist’s actions are going too far.”

At last, the five Saint Spirits reached a unanimous decision.

But was the Daoist afraid?

No.

Indeed, he had long since guessed that they would not stand by idly. And the moment they chose to intervene, the final step of his plan would truly begin.

They knew that, with their present strength, they were no match for the Daoist, nor could they directly interfere with his formation. Thus, they chose to rescue the people from the entanglement of the threads of karma. Since the Daoist intended to use those people to complete the formation, all that was needed was to free them from it. Once they escaped, the predicament would cease to exist.

The threads of karma were invisible. Ordinary people could not see them. They could sense them, but not perceive them—and what could not be seen could not be severed.

Of all those present, apart from the five Saint Spirits, only the Star-Seer Elder of the Celestial Secrets Sect could clearly see the thread of karma wrapped around himself. Yet even with his strength, he had no way to cut it.

The people bound by the threads of karma were not all entangled to the same degree.

The ancient ancestors were bound most tightly. After them came the members of the various sects and races who had followed in their wake, hoping to share in the benefits.

The Saint Spirits first attacked the threads of karma wrapped around the ancient ancestors. In their view, even if these threads had been laid down by the Daoist, as long as they were karma belonging to the mortal world, they—humanity’s most powerful Saints—should still be able to sever them.

Yet reality proved contrary to their expectations. The moment their Great Daos came into contact with the threads of karma, the threads erupted with dazzling light and shattered their Great Daos.

White Spirit was the first to understand. In a grave voice, she said, “We forgot. Though they appear to be threads of karma, they are in truth divine punishment. With the power of the mortal world, we cannot sever them.”

The Sword Saint refused to believe it.

“I do not believe that. I will try against those whose threads are less tightly bound.”

With that, he condensed his Sword Dao into an illusory sword and poured all the power of his Great Dao into severing the karma. He believed he could succeed, but the result was exactly as White Spirit had said: this was divine punishment, not mere karma of the mortal world.

Saints might indeed be Saints, but they had not ascended. So long as they remained in the mortal world, they were still mortals, and the power they possessed was, in the end, merely human strength. How could human strength contend with immortals—or with Heaven itself?

Perhaps someone had accomplished such a feat in the past. Perhaps someone would do so in the future. But they knew with certainty that they were not those people.

What shocked White Spirit most was that, when the Sword Saint attacked the threads of karma wrapped around the others, she suddenly discovered that threads of karma had also wound themselves around the Saint Spirits.

She hurriedly cast a Daoist art to examine herself. To her astonishment, even she, a Saint Spirit, could no longer see her own future.

She quickly examined the other Saint Spirits as well, only to find the same result.

At that instant, a chill settled over her heart.

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The Saint Spirits were true spirits left behind by the Saints of old. From the moment they were born, they had possessed only one purpose: to protect Heavenly Gate Town. That was their sole future.

But now White Spirit could no longer see that one and only future. This meant that threads of karma had also been bound around them. From the moment they intervened, they too had lost their futures.

White Spirit looked toward the Daoist.

No wonder he had made no attempt to intervene from the beginning. It was not that he could not act. He simply had no desire to do so.

Every move they had made had been within the Daoist’s calculations. He had been waiting for them to act, so that he could draw them into this web of karma.

“You planned all of this long ago, did you not?”

The Daoist did not deny it. At that moment, he was in the midst of merging with the Dao. It was true that he could not act, but it was equally true that he had not wished to act.

“Whether you would enter this game, whether you would choose to enter it, has always been your own decision. I never forced you. To say that I schemed against you would not be entirely wrong—but in the end, was it not still your own choice?”

The other four Saint Spirits hurriedly examined themselves as well. The result was exactly as White Spirit had said: threads of karma had wound around them too.

It was only when the Sword Saint acted and his Great Dao vanished upon coming into contact with the threads of karma, without even the slightest resistance, that White Spirit realized the truth. There could be no other explanation: the Saint Spirits themselves had been caught in the threads of karma and had become part of this karmic web.

The Daoist’s merging with the Dao had reached its final stage.

Everyone else had tried every method they could think of to escape the formation, but no matter where they went, they ultimately returned to the Daoist’s side. This left them increasingly dejected.

The five Saint Spirits had exhausted every method as well, only to discover that they too could not escape. Yet they felt neither anxiety nor despair. With their cultivation and experience, they had witnessed too many partings between life and death. Even if they were truly forced to merge with the Dao, they would accept it calmly when the final moment arrived.

There was only one thing the Old Daoist could not understand.

“Did you never consider leaving behind a lineage?”

Indeed, had the Daoist truly been so ruthless that he had never considered what would become of his legacy?

Take Li Hongshuang, for example. She had reincarnated and continued her cultivation in a new life, leaving behind a lineage. Once the proper time arrived, she would return to the person she had once been, recovering her original self.

Likewise, in a certain sense, the five Saint Spirits were also the legacies left behind by the five Saints of old. If their true bodies perished, the Saint Spirits would carry on their unfinished will and become new Saints.

But what of the Daoist now?

Had he truly left behind not the slightest trace of his own lineage?

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